Wal-Mart in the mood to sing

CHICAGO - After enduring a bruising year of sales and profit disappointments, scandal involving a once-revered executive, and even a negative documentary film, Wal-Mart Stores apparently feels like singing.

The world's biggest retailer treated analysts and investors to a new twist on the Christmas classic Up on the Housetop on Saturday during its weekly recorded sales message.

After scrolling through the usual corporate "safe harbour statement" full of legal jargon detailing all of the reasons a company may miss its forecasts, listeners heard a song featuring lyrics such as: "Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn't go? Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn't go? Out to Wal-Mart, let's go shop. Get great deals, watch prices drop."

The song joked about the infamous laptop computers Wal-Mart sold for under US$400 on the day after Thanksgiving, causing a few brawls as customers fought over limited supplies.

"Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn't go? Out that early, oh my word, but the laptop goes to the early bird."

And for investors hoping for some clue to the retailer's expansion plans, Wal-Mart closed the song with: "Ho, ho, ho, would you like to know, ho, ho, ho, would you like to know, what country's next, oh we can't tell, just buy our stock, don't sell, sell, sell."

It was an upbeat tone from a company coming off one of the most challenging years in its history. In November, Wal-Mart posted its smallest quarterly profit gain since the 2001 US recession, the low point in a year of lacklustre results.

The retailer this year spent millions of dollars trying to counter critics who say it pays poverty-level wages and mistreats employees, criticism that peaked with a negative documentary aired across the country in November.

Last spring, a scandal ensnared former vice chairman Tom Coughlin, who was accused of misappropriating funds.

- REUTERS